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If you've been following the site for a while, you know that I've been a MailChimp user since … well, since the very beginning of my online adventure.
Over time, though, things have started to get difficult. I mean, MailChimp is still cool and all, but sending my emails for free has become rather troublesome.
But hold off on that for a minute … I will give you the entire story later down the page.
In short, what I have for you today is my take on:
The top 5 email marketing platforms of 2015
In this post, you will learn:
- what the top 5 email marketing platforms of 2015 are and why (my subjective opinion) ,
- how they stack up against each other,
- what are the pros and cons of each ,
- which is the easiest to use,
- which is the cheapest platform out there ,
- which is the best for someone just getting started with email marketing,
- which is the best when your list has grown over the 2,500 subscribers mark ,
- which is the best for operating at scale.
Okay, you've seen the headline so there's no point having you wait any longer. The top 5 is:
(Scroll to the conclusion / comparison table)
You might be wondering why I've chosen these five solutions for my review/comparison… "Where's AWeber? Where's Constant Contact?" Okay, I hear ya, but my reasoning is this:
Although there are a lot more viable solutions for anyone who wants to start experimenting with email marketing, the 5 presented here are significantly different from each other in the way they work.
They all have a place on the market, and each will cater to a different kind of user.
In other words, read on to find out which is the right email marketing tool/solution for your specific business, website, and for your individual preferences.
GetResponse has a special place in my heart due to the fact that they are a Polish company that has taken the email marketing space by the storm, becoming one of the worldwide leaders.
But that's not the only reason. GetResponse delivers truly world-class solutions for anyone who wants to get into email marketing. Their brand is not only about the tool, but also about various resources and education/training that you can jump on.
But let's get to the nitty-gritty. GetResponse has clear pricing options based on the number of subscribers you have. Particularly:
Subscribers | Emails | Price |
1 000 | – | $15,00 |
2 500 | – | $25,00 |
5 000 | – | $45,00 |
10 000 | – | $65,00 |
Unfortunately, there's no free plan, but they do offer a free 30-day trial (even though this is not openly advertised on the website, you can find the landing page via Google easily).
The good thing about GetResponse plans is that no matter which plan you select, you can send an unlimited number of emails (which isn't the case with some of GetResponse competitors, as you'll see in a minute).
Also, paying annually gets you 18% off, and if you run a non-profit, you get an automatic 50% off whatever plan you select. Overall, it does seem like GetResponse has thought of every possible type of customer with their pricing options.
Let's look at how it plays out for a couple of possible scenarios:
GetResponse cost:
For a new list:
If you're just starting out then GetResponse will cost you $0 for the first month, and then $15 / month if your list is less than 1,000 subscribers. You can send an unlimited number of emails on that plan.
For 2,500 subscribers:
In this scenario, your GetResponse bill grows to $25 / month, but you still get to send an unlimited number of emails. This gives you much room for testing. Quite frankly, no matter if you message your list twice a month or twice a day, the bill is still $25.
For 7,500+ subscribers:
Your GetResponse bill is now $65 / month. Still, unlimited emails.
- Create multiple types of subscription forms: standard forms, exit pops, scroll forms, shake boxes, etc.
- 500+ web form templates to choose from.
- HTML-based email template editor for advanced users.
- Responsive email designs. This means that your newsletters are going to look great on every device (mobile and desktop).
- Drag-and-drop email creation tool.
- Landing pages. You can create, edit, and publish landing pages straight from GetResponse. There are more than 100 mobile-friendly templates available, a nice drag-and-drop editor, and a set of optimization tools.
- A/B testing. Run split testing campaigns and see what converts better (huge feature for optimization).
- Autoresponders. AKA. email marketing automation. Send triggered emails, follow-up messages, or anything else based on your subscribers' activity.
- Tracking and stats. Allows you to monitor your results.
- Inbox preview. You can see what your email message is going to look like on the most popular email clients and devices.
Overall, GetResponse gives you all you can ask for when it comes to growing your list, building, sending and tracking your email.
GetResponse is also the most education-centered solution on this list. Right after you open an account with them, they invite you to join their free daily sessions (tips on how to grow your email list), where they share lessons, video tutorials, presentations, and tasks for you to complete (like a normal course).
Who's GetResponse best suited for:
- Startups and small businesses that want to have all aspects of email marketing handled in one place, by one tool/solution.
- GetResponse also presents good potential for growing alongside your company due to their affordable rates on every step along your list growth.
- Perfect for non-profits. No one else on this list gives you 50% off if you're a non-profit.
- Great if you're going to be contacting your list multiple times a week, regardless of that list's size. For example, contacting your list of 1,000 subscribers every day of the month is going to be the cheapest with GetResponse (when it comes to hosted email marketing solutions).
Like I already mentioned at the beginning of this post, I've been a MailChimp user since the very beginning of this site. And I have to admit, MailChimp has a great editor (to build your emails/newsletters with), great reputation (it's an established company in this market, handling all types of customers, from sole-proprietors to big corporations), and a wide range of features.
However, there's also a downside.
And that is the cost of working with MailChimp. Let's take this step by step:
To begin with, your MailChimp account is free, which is great. It basically allows you to get off the ground and start learning your craft in the world of email marketing.
But then, once you're above the 2,000 subscribers mark, your MailChimp bill is going to grow quite a lot. Here's the math:
- Getting to 2,000 subscribers is free = $0 / month, $0 / year.
- Having 2,001 subscribers is $30 / month, $360 / year.
That is a huge jump … there's just no other way to say it. For many businesses, switching from $0 to $360 / year is just too huge of a gap. For me also.
More than that, MailChimp also has some ridiculous pricing models in the 2,000-3,000 subscribers range. Particularly:
Yep, you're reading this right … that's $5 for every 100 subscribers.
Anyway, MailChimp also gives you a pay-as-you-go plan. In other words, instead of paying a monthly fee, you pay only for the emails that you actually send.
On paper, this option sounds great. In practice, though, not so much.
For example, if you have a list of just 1,000 people, and want to message them once – just once – it's going to cost you $20. If you want to message them, say, twice a week for a month, that's $160 / month. And that's provided that you buy your "email credits" (MailChimp's pay-as-you-go email currency) for $0.02 a piece, which means buying at least $100-worth of them.
In short, MailChimp … not the most cost-effective for a growing list.
MailChimp cost:
For a new list:
Until you grow your list to 2,000 subscribers, MailChimp is going to be entirely free for you. On that plan, you can send up to 12,000 emails a month (e.g. you can email your list of 2,000 subscribers a total of 6 times per month).
For 2,500 subscribers:
- If your list is not more than 2,500 subscribers then your MailChimp bill is going to be $30 / month. The good thing here, though, is that you can send unlimited emails.
- For 2,501 subscribers, the price grows to $35 / month.
For 7,500+ subscribers:
Here, MailChimp gets quite expensive. For up to 10,000 subscribers, you have to pay $75 / month.
- Flexible design and great newsletter building tools.
- Drag-and-drop email building.
- Email automation, and advanced tools for automated marketing. Allows you to target customers based on their behavior, preferences, previous sales.
- Advanced analytics and reporting. You can see everything there is to know about your audience and how they interact with your emails.
- Great mobile apps. Both for managing your campaigns and tracking your stats.
- Integrations with multiple third-party apps and tools.
- Split testing.
- Custom subscription forms creation, and much more.
If I'm honest, MailChimp is the top league when it comes to the number and the quality of the features they offer. But the price tag makes them a tough choice for a bootstrapping business owner.
Who's MailChimp best suited for:
- Bloggers, startups, local businesses, and small business owners that don't want to invest in email marketing just yet. The free plan allows you to do that.
- Business owners that want the top-of-the-line features and price is no object to them.
- Great for whoever is going to work with a list of less than 2,000 subscribers and not messaging them more frequently than 6 times a month.
SendinBlue is a newcomer to the email marketing space. The company was born from a web agency that wanted to cater to their own customers, and solve their email marketing needs. Over time, SendinBlue has evolved to a full-fledged email solution that's opened their doors to the public.
The area where SendinBlue really stands out is their pricing model. To say it simply, SendinBlue is a solution that will grow with you, and give you the exact plan that you need and can afford.
For example, when compared to MailChimp, SendinBlue is a lot more cost-effective, and especially if you have a list of around 2,500 subscribers. More than that, SendinBlue doesn't actually pay attention to how many contacts or even individual lists you have. For example, having 10 lists with 250 people on each will cost you just as much as having one list with 2,500 subscribers. This isn't always the case with the other providers.
Let's see how that works:
SendinBlue cost:
For a new list:
There's a free plan with SendinBlue. It doesn't restrict the number of subscribers you can have, but it does limit your daily emails to 300, and your monthly emails to 9,000. What this means in practice is that SendinBlue is a good solution for those of you who are just starting out and want to experiment with email marketing for free. So, new list = $0.
For 2,500 subscribers:
- The math here is a bit tougher to do. SendinBlue doesn't limit your number of subscribers at all. What it does look at, however, is the total number of emails you send.
- Having the above in mind, if you have 2,500 subscribers and you want to message them twice a week (so 20,000 emails in a month), it's going to cost you $7.37 / month.
For 7,500+ subscribers:
If you have 7,500 subscribers and you want to message them twice a week (60,000 emails in a month), it's going to cost you $39 / month.
- Responsive design builder – allowing you to build responsive email designs, smartphone-friendly, and with no HTML knowledge required.
- Drag-and-drop newsletter builder.
- Have unlimited number of people on your email lists. SendinBlue doesn't restrict you in any way.
- Autoresponders and trigger marketing – email sent based on your subscribers' behavior and previous actions.
- Good and clear reports and analytics.
- Real-time tracking.
- Heat maps showing how your subscribers interact with your newsletters.
- Subscription form creation tool.
Overall, SendinBlue offers more than enough to get your email marketing efforts going and allow you to keep things on a budget at all times.
The email designs that SendinBlue lets you use are easy to grasp and render well on most devices and screen sizes. In other words, SendinBlue is email marketing simplified.
Who's SendinBlue best suited for:
- Small business owners that want to test the waters and see what's possible with email marketing. The free plan is great for that, especially since it doesn't restrict any functionality.
- Businesses that want their email marketing solution to be able to grow with them. The pricing progression is clear and easy to follow. There also aren't any huge jumps in pricing like with MailChimp … everything is gradual.
- Businesses that have a handful of email lists instead of having one main list. With SendinBlue, emailing one list costs just as much as emailing 10 lists.
Sendy has one huge advantage over everything else on this list … sending one email with it costs just $0.0001. This is around 100x to 200x cheaper than the other solutions on the market.
That being said, Sendy is also very different in other areas. First of all, it's not an online solution (hosted tool) like the others. In fact, it's a stand-alone software tool that you have to install on your web server (similarly to how you install WordPress). After that, Sendy connects to your Amazon SES account and sends the emails through there.
When it comes to the features that Sendy offers, all the basic stuff is there, but not as advanced as what GetResponse, MailChimp, or SendinBlue have to offer. In other words, if you're going to go for Sendy, you're doing it for the price, not for the high-level features.
Let's break things down:
Sendy cost:
For a new list:
Getting the Sendy software itself is $59 (one-time payment). Then, you need to get a hosting account from a third party (starts at $5 / month). After that, sending a single email is just $0.0001. For example, if you have 1,000 people on your list, and you want to message them twice a week, it's going to be just a silly $0.8 / month (+ hosting + the software).
For 2,500 subscribers:
Same as above, you have to pay for the tool (one time) and for the hosting (every month). Then, if you have 2,500 subscribers and you want to message them twice a week (20,000 emails in a month), it's going to cost you $2 / month.
For 7,500+ subscribers:
Similarly, if you have 7,500 subscribers and you want to message them twice a week (60,000 email in a month), it's going to cost you $6 / month.
- You can manage multiple lists/services/brands. Sendy doesn't pay attention to what number of lists you have hosted.
- All email sending is done through Amazon SES.
- Good-looking and clear reports. No fluff, just the info you need and nothing else.
- Automatic bounce, complaint and unsubscribe handling. Great for campaign clean-ups.
- Autoresponders. Having autoresponders for this low price is really incredible.
- Basic email creation tools – editor and HTML templates.
Who's Sendy best suited for:
- Businesses that send a lot of email on a daily basis. Nothing beats Amazon's pricing, and with Sendy, it's always going to be the cheapest solution.
- Re-sellers. With Sendy, you can white-label the tool and make your own email marketing solution available to the world. Great if you run a design/development agency and work with clients directly.
Finally, we have MailPoet – an email marketing solution that's quite different from anything else.
First of all, it's a WordPress plugin. This means that you need to have your own WordPress site first, and only then you can install MailPoet and use it to send your email messages.
The installation is standard in terms of WordPress, so there's nothing particularly difficult during set-up.
Even though the main plugin is free, there are also premium plans if you want to unlock some of the additional features. The main restriction is that the free version of MailPoet limits you to 2,000 subscribers (just like MailChimp).
The good news is that you get to send unlimited emails to those 2,000 subscribers. The bad news, though, is that you're sending the emails through your web server, which isn't always the most optimized solution.
For instance, even though MailPoet doesn't restrict the number of emails you can send, your webhost may do so. And in extreme cases, you sending too much email could lead to your web host banning you from the server (you're going to have to research this before doing anything radical).
MailPoet cost:
For a new list:
That's $0 for a list up to 2,000 subscribers. The only thing you have to pay for is your standard hosting bill.
For 2,500 subscribers:
If you want to have more than 2,000 subscribers, that's $8.25 / month.
For 7,500+ subscribers:
It's still $8.25 / month. In fact, Sendy doesn't restrict the number of subscribers above the 2,000 mark. Once you're a paid customer, you get to keep unlimited number of contacts on your lists.
- Drag-and-drop newsletter editor.
- Automatic blog post notification emails whenever you publish anything new.
- Autoresponders.
- Good stats: opens, clicks, unsubscribes. (More with the premium version).
- Drag-and-drop subscription form builder.
- Mobile-friendly newsletter templates.
- Over 70 templates available for your newsletters.
- Automated bounce handling for good list health.
- List segmentation and categories.
Who's MailPoet best suited for:
- Only site owners that have a good web host that can handle the load of sending email. (Important!)
- Good for those who want to have everything handled in one place – within their WordPress site – and not have to use third-party tools. With a solution like MailPoet, you don't have to go anywhere to manage your email lists and campaigns.
- Good for small lists and business owners that want to minimize their costs managing such lists.
- Your MailPoet account is going to be associated with the brand of the website where it's installed – since it's a plugin. This means that using it for more than one list/purpose can look weird.
Here's a direct comparison and my scores for each platform.:
GetResponse | MailChimp | SendinBlue | Sendy | MailPoet | |
Cost * | 4/5 | 0/5 | 5/5 | 10/5 | 3/5 |
Ease of use * | 5/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
Features * | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 |
Extra perks/tools * | 5/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Some comments:
- Cost – Even though the scale is 0-5, Sendy is simply above the competition here, so it got a 10. MailChimp, on the other hand, is just too expensive.
- Ease of use – basically all of the tools are easy to use once you get a hang of them. However, when it comes to a first-time user – someone who knows nothing going through the door, GetResponse and MailChimp are the leaders.
- Features – Summing up my overall impression of the range of features and possibilities with each platform.
- Extra perks and tools – things that you get as a cool addition/bonus … education, landing page builders, special offers, etc.
So that's me. But what do you think? Have you found the right tool for you and your business on this list? Is it GetResponse, MailChimp, SendinBlue, Sendy, or MailPoet? Feel free to let me know if there's anything I missed.
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Maryland parents John and Janice Land are accused of locking their 22-year-old sons with autism inside a basement room of their Rockville home for six years.
According to documents obtained by NBC Washington, Montgomery County police uncovered a room in the basement locked by a deadbolt when they were executing a drug-related warrant at the Lands' home on Crawford Drive last Thursday.
Inside, officers found twin brothers Darnell and Derrick Land living in a urine-smelling "bedroom" with no furniture, little light and a single comforter on the floor.
Police said Janice and John Land told them their sons are nonverbal and require constant attention.
According to a probable cause document, John said one of his sons had previously caused some water damage to the home, and to prevent it from happening again, he admitted to installing a deadbolt and padlock on the outside of the bedroom with the "sole intention" of locking his sons in the basement room.
John told officers he would lock his sons inside the room around 10 p.m. and would come back just before 5 a.m. to "let them out." According to the document, John said his wife, along with others, had also locked the twins in the room in the past.
Documents said when investigators asked John how he and his wife would communicate with their sons if something went wrong or they needed something, John said his sons would "eventually make enough noise that he would hear them and go see what was wrong."
He said there was no furniture in his sons' bedroom because they had soiled it the week before police arrived, and they had the furniture removed.
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
According to the documents, Janice Land told officers she had no knowledge of her sons being locked in the room for six years despite being one of their primary caretakers and sharing a home with them.
"If someone locked them in the room, I didn't know about it," she told investigators.
A neighbor, Sharon Drennan, told NBC Washington she heard about the twins being locked in the basement three years ago.
"I reported it to the authorities, and nothing's ever been done. [Those] children stayed in there three years longer? That's sad. I can't believe it's come to this," Drennan said.
Officers said there was a small window in the room, but not large enough to allow the two to escape had there been an emergency. According to the document, John told police he was aware of this problem.
"We want to express to families, if you need us, if you are at your wit's end as a care giver, you can reach out to us, and call 911," Montgomery County police officer Laurie Reyes said.
John and Janice Land are facing two counts each of false imprisonment and two counts each of vulnerable adult abuse of a family member.
They have two other sons -- one of whom was arrested the same day as his parents for robbery and assault in the second degree of a disabled child at a playground.

subset: commoncrawl


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The economy will grow at a sluggish pace for the rest of the year, even as the outlook brightened slightly from a similar forecast made in early February, the nation's business economists said Monday.
Economic growth is now projected to grow by 2.4 percent this year, up from a 2.2 percent forecast in February. While the pace of new job creation – the most watched indicator – should equal 188,000 per month this year, up from the 170,000 new jobs per month expected earlier this year, that won't be fast enough to pull the unemployment rate down below 8 percent, the forecasters said.
"We're seeing housing start to improve, and light vehicle sales are improving," said Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, who chairs the survey for the National Association of Business Economists. "That's guided the slight improvement in the overall outlook." Still, economic growth of just 2.4 percent qualifies as a very slow recovery. The forecast also projected that growth next year would pick up to 2.8 percent.
Growth rates of 2 to 3 percent are usually seen in the latter years of an economic expansion. Early years are usually marked by much faster growth – 4 to 5 percent – and that was missing in the early rebound from the Great Recession.
Some economists involved in the forecast suggest the U.S. has become similar to aging societies like Japan and western Europe, where there are fewer workers per retiree, higher spending on health care and other social services aimed at the elderly and lower levels of consumer spending, which over the past few decades drove economic growth in the U.S.
"Last year, the economists said the long-run economic potential of the U.S. was 2.7 percent annual growth," said Richard DeKaser, deputy chief economist for the Parthenon Group, a strategic consulting firm based in Boston. "So if we're at 2.8 percent next year, that's above potential."
The huge stock market and housing market losses experienced by tens of millions of Americans is another reason the U.S. has been unable to return growth levels above 3 percent, DeKaser said. "That's taken a huge toll on consumers, and it's also taken a huge toll on the financial sector because it's impaired lending."
Other economists involved in the survey pointed to the seemingly never-ending parade of events contributing to economic uncertainty. Greece; the fate of the Euro; the U.S. "fiscal cliff" looming at the end of the year, which could chop 3 percentage points off economic growth; the future of economic policy from a changed or unchanged political landscape after the election – there are no shortage of reasons for business leaders to pause and consumers to sit on their wallets.
"There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty, some of which is out of our control," said Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida and a consultant for numerous business clients. "It's still looking to be a below par recovery over the next couple of years."
Yet overall uncertainties surrounding tax and spending policies after the election did not weigh down the business forecasters. The median forecast of the 54 economists, which saw consumer spending rising by 2.2 percent this year, pegged it to rise 2.5 percent next year.
Housing is also emerging as a potential bright spot, according to the forecast, although it will remain well below the peaks seen in the last decade. The forecasters predicted housing starts will rise 18 percent to 720,000 units in 2012, up from 610,000 in 2011. Next year, they foresee 850,000 starts, which is similar to what they predicted in February.
The place where uncertainty may be playing the biggest role is in business investment, where the forecast was lowered from 4.2 percent in February to 2.9 percent in May. However, that's projected to rise to a healthy 5.5 percent growth rate in 2013, which suggests fears about the uncertainties stemming from the fiscal cliff may be overblown.


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elcome to Mary McDonnell Vault, your online resource dedicated to actress Mary McDonnell. You better know Mary for her role as Captain Sharon Raydor for the TNT crime series The Closer & Major Crimes. But she also did others like Battlestar Galactica, Independence Day, Donnie Darko, Dances with Wolves, Sneakers and many others. Site is comprehensive of a big photogallery with events, photoshoots, magazines, stills, an extensive press library to collect all the articles and interviews on her and a video gallery section for recorded interviews, sneak peeks and trailers of her projects. We claim no rights to know her personally and it's absolutely respectful of her privacy and paparazzi-free!!!
Mariette in Ecstasy – Clips
Video clips of Mary McDonnell from "Mariette in Ecstasy", one in black & white
Script developed by Never Enough Design


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I am that girl.
That may make no sense to you, or it may make all the sense in the world. I'm that girl who was successful, accomplished, sporting two degrees, two beautiful children, one glorious husband and two great homes. I'm that girl who believed in love and fairy tales, who was happily-ever-after married, who had met her soul mate, who also was her best friend, and dedicated herself to him entirely.
I'm also that girl whose marriage ended with a brick
Yip…that girl. The girl that the universe just can't help but fuck with.
You see, I heart symbols. Always have. Being a writer, they're my turn-on of choice.
So when I opened up the picture in my then-husband's email — the picture of a brick inscribed with gut-wrenching, soul-twisting, ugly, evil words — well, the symbol was too strong to not feel somehow tricked by some higher power.
I mean, come on: It hit me like a ton of bricks; to hit your head against a brick wall; to be thick as a brick; to be talking to a brick wall.
As my face turned pale and all the saliva disappeared from my mouth, I saw a cartoon of all the famous "brick" clichés, playfully bouncing around the 18-inch monitor in front of me, torturing me with all their mortar malice.
All the sayings — every one of them that quickly made its way into and out of my brain at the moment my life changed forever — every one of them talked about being stupid, doing pointless things or being blindsided.
There it was: the heartless universe, laughing at me hysterically. Bitch.
So at this point, perhaps I need to share some details about the brick. First it was one of those commemorative bricks that businesses use as a fundraiser, placing them outside of special locations adorned with family names and trite messages — you've seen them outside of Disneyland, or your local planetarium, or an aquarium, or any other business ending in "ium," for example.
The picture of this brick was attached to an email conversation between my then-husband and a sales rep from his old high school in Oregon, which the hubby had attended with his childhood sweetheart (an aside that didn't even cross my mind as I read the exchange, though it's important now for context). Apparently, my adoring husband had bought a brick. I read the email with interest, because he indicated to this gentleman that it was a Christmas present, but he said "we" wouldn't get up to see it until after the snows.
I got all excited. He bought me a brick? Seemed an odd gift … but hell, I figured: If diamonds are made from coal, maybe something equally sexy comes from brick.
Not so much. That was me, being thick as a brick.
When I clicked the attachment, the image of a brick-colored brick (so original) with a brass plate sporting sans-serif letters appeared, inscribed with the following:
John Dumbass* '92
Marilyn Bitch* '94
Always and Forever
* Names changed to protect the far-from-innocent.
As you can probably figure out based on the "author" name at the top of this blog, I am not Marilyn Bitch. But the part you may not be able to figure out as easily is that Jack Dumbass was my then-husband … of 10+ years. He and I had been together for 13 years — more than 1/3 of my life — and yet his name was positioned on top, in a very traditional missionary position over her name, and inscribed in stone.
Me? I just had the flimsy piece of cardstock called a marriage license. I was devastated at the irony.
That brick changed my life. In one fell swoop, or one view of a haplessly misfiled e-mail picture, I had seen the end of my marriage in all its stunning flat-screen glory.
The rest, as they say, is history. But it's still recent history to me, as the brick hit me over the head only a few days after Christmas in 2007. Since then, what has occurred looks nothing like the popular conceptions of divorce prescribe. In fact, it's been just the opposite.
I'm a mature woman. I thought he was a mature man. Yet we're definitely not walking our two children to school together, him holding hands with our daughter, her holding hands with her big brother, her big brother holding hands with me, the four of us still connected like a paper cut-out against a sunny horizon.
Nope. It's been sheer chaos, utter hell, the worst days of my life.
And here I am sharing my story with you, because I, my friends, am an expert on how to handle this. (Not really.) Perhaps I can help you live through a divorce gracefully. (That's a total lie.) Because I have been the idyllic image of honesty, above-boardedness (I just made that word up — because I can…) and grace. (I wish.)
Sometimes I lie just to make myself feel better. That's one of my coping mechanisms.
Actually, here I am a little more than two years later, and I feel like I have a story to tell. I've been silent too long — mostly out of sheer guilt (self-imposed and other-imposed, but mainly by the two people who I'm sure feel terrified at the thought of a mortifying combination of my words, their actions and the one venue afforded by this blog).
I need to say it again: I've been silent far too long.
This blog will be my honest, sometimes irreverent attempt to offer insights into the complexity of divorce with shared custody; with dealing with the subsequent forced reinvention that occurs post-divorce; with coping when your heart is ripped from your chest every other week as your kids sob, telling you they want nothing more than to stay with you forever and never leave.
I have learned so much, yet I still have much to learn. I am stronger in many ways, but so much weaker in others. Hell, I think the most commitment I will ever again exercise is choosing one and only one shampoo to place in my shower. That was a HUGE step.
And that just happened yesterday.
But the other shampoos still live in my closet with all the other old bottles of makeup, lotion, body wash, etc. that I don't use but maybe someday will desperately, immediately need again — and they will make another appearance once the "chosen" shampoo lets me down … which it inevitably will.
(I'm looking at you, Big Sexy Hair. Typical shampoo.)
I hope you'll join me in this journey — and forgive me for once in a while selfishly sharing seemingly mindless details that I just NEED to share. I promise, though, this will not become an endless rant or a place to bash; instead, I'm hoping to focus on reinvention — on what I call "Me 2.0" (more on than in a later post).
I do hope you'll offer your thoughts, send feedback, call me names, spread the word. There are too many of us who feel guilty because "forgiveness" is the ultimate goal or because "you can make this work if you just try."
Bullshit. I'm living proof.
Apparently, there is an old Irish proverb that reads, "A grudge is a beautiful thing."
Maybe I'll put that on a brick. Then toss it in the general direction of a certain Dumbass and his Bitch. (Symbolically speaking, of course…)
Take that, Universe. I'm that girl, now…


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Constellation Energy, New York, USA
Constellation Energy needed to upgrade their ability to handle spent nuclear fuel kept in dry storage casks. The existing building was not designed to support the loads of the new crane, so a solution needed to be found.
The Konecranes technical team assigned to this project worked closely with the customer and regulatory personnel to assess various potential designs and to address the high-level technical challenges associated with this project. The team also provided detailed reports to verify and validate that all project requirements could be achieved.
As a result of this detailed analysis, Konecranes developed a specialized design for the new crane that did not impose any additional load on the existing building.
The new system used a rolling-bridge telescoping boom system that transferred the crane loads stress to a location outside of the building.
Innovation in design and efficiency
The innovative rolling-bridge telescoping boom system allowed the crane to make the critical 125-ton lifts that were required inside the building, without the need for extensive and expensive structural analysis and building modifications.
The 125-ton single failure proof crane provided by Konecranes is possibly the most technologically innovative crane of its kind ever built for the nuclear industry. This unique crane system is now utilized by our client to handle nuclear dry storage casks safely, efficiently and reliably.


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Hear from the Orbit team why you need to read Ian Tregillis's Milkweed Trilogy
Today week we're releasing NECESSARY EVIL (UK | ANZ) by Ian Tregillis, the conclusion to the spectacular Milkweed Triptych. The series began with BITTER SEEDS (UK | ANZ) and THE COLDEST WAR (UK | ANZ).
It's hard to express just how much we are all head-over-heels in love with this series. This time, it's not just me, Ian's editor, who's wanting to tell you how great the books are. The whole Orbit team has been clamouring to tell everyone just how much these books will blow your mind:
James Long, Orbit Editorial Assistant
"The Milkweed Triptych is simply one of the best trilogies I've ever read. These books are beautifully written, meticulously plotted and tell an incredible story built around a host of wonderfully-drawn characters. At heart these books tell an exciting adventure story about British warlocks fighting a secret war against Nazi supersoldiers, and are appropriately packed with explosive action sequences. Yet they're also deeply moving, intelligent novels that will repeatedly shatter your expectations and make you ponder all sorts of questions about the power of love and the nature of evil. Quite simply, they're brilliant and utterly unmissable."
Felice Howden, Little, Brown Marketing
"I was initially enamoured by this series from the description: X-Men meets Inglorious Basterds. When I opened the first page to a Nietzsche quote and a scene where one child cunningly engineers the death of another, I knew it was something special. Then I discovered one of the main characters was a prescient German girl; a puppeteer manipulating the others on her choice of path through wars, births, deaths, friendships and hatred; making moves calculated years in advance with unimaginable consequences; throwing stones that rippled through the lives of everyone around her. And I was in love."
Anne Clarke, Orbit Editorial Director
"I love the way the plot threads around and twists back on itself, just when you think you've got it all worked out, both within the books and between them. Every new page gives you another thread to pull. The writing itself is phenomenal, but it's the characters and the plot – my god, the plot! – that have got me so hooked. I can't wait to read Necessary Evil and find out how Ian manages to resolve such a tangled web. Ian's poor protagonists dance like puppets for the unbearably sinister Gretel, but there must be a master plan behind it all. I can't believe she doesn't have one – though I do hope poor Raybould foils it and that he finds the redemption he so desperately wants. He deserves a break after all he's been through!"
Anna Gregson, Orbit Commissioning Editor
"After having devoured the entire Milkweed Triptych at the speed of light, I can only conclude is that Ian Tregillis is an absolute genius. The Milkweed books are simply one of the cleverest, most engrossing series I've ever read. I often found myself chuckling out loud in public places at the pure brilliance of the plotting, the devious intellect of the protagonists, and the masterful skill of the author's turn of phrase… Ian Tregillis takes an idea which is already hugely exciting in a very superhero-comic kind of way (mad warlocks fighting scientifically-enhanced Nazi übermensch), but then delivers the concept with such intelligence, such emotional power and such literary flair that you cannot help but fall head-over-heels for him as a writer."
If you haven't started this series yet and want to find out just why we're going so crazy about it, you can get a taster with a free extract of BITTER SEEDS here.


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SAN DIEGO – Not even a sloppy finish could keep Tiger Woods from another win at Torrey Pines.
Woods led by as many as eight shots on the back nine Monday until a painfully slow finish led to some indifferent shots in the final hour of the Farmers Insurance Open.
No matter.
Woods closed with an even-par 72 for a four-shot victory. He won the tournament for the seventh time, and picked up his record eighth win as a pro at Torrey Pines, which includes the 2008 U.S. Open.
Woods had a six-shot lead with 11 holes to play when he returned Monday to complete the fog-delayed tournament and no one got close.
It was the 75th career win for Woods on the PGA Tour, seven behind the record held by Sam Snead.


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Show All Answers
At City Hall, located at:701 Fourth StreetYreka, CA 96097Phone: 530-841-2386
Call the Yreka Police Department dispatch and ask the dispatcher to see if your dog has been picked up. If your dog has been picked up, coordinate with the dispatcher to pick up your dog by calling 530-841-2300.
No, only dogs require a City animal license.
Dog Licensing Fees, as well as impound-related fees, go exclusively to pay for Animal Control Services.
Previously, the most recent dog license fee increase was in 1983. Since then, costs have increased substantially. Before the most recent increase, license fees and impound related fees covered less than 20% of Animal Control's expenses.
The remaining 80% or so came out of the City's general budget. The City, while recognizing the benefits of having Animal Control services, wanted the general public to bear less of the burden. The dog license fee rate increase was designed to pay for about 50% of those costs.
Animal Control receives over 600 calls a year, and 80% of those calls are dog related. Due to dogs taking up the majority of Animal Control's time, the City wanted dog owners to pay a fair proportion of Animal Control's costs.
If you live outside of the City limits, you need to have your dog licensed with the County. For more information, call 530-841-4028.


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Barrier Free Boating is a Michigan 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides the use of a pontoon boat, FREE OF CHARGE, so that physically disabled individuals and their families, veteran's groups, group homes and youth organizations will have the opportunity to enjoy the activities of boating and fishing. The custom made, barrier free, 22 foot South Bay pontoon boat, specifically designed to accommodate up to three wheelchairs and a maximum of 1550 pounds, will be available for use from May 15 through September 30 yearly.
The pontoon boat has 25" pontoons, the largest available to provide maximum stability and is powered by a 25 horsepower Yamaha motor for a speed of 6 - 8 miles per hour.
Please click on the link below to view a video explaining the program and see the boat and custom built dock.
Barrier Free Boating is located at the Otter Lake Village Park, Otter Lake, Michigan. Otter Lake Village Park has a campground, boat launch, beach, picnic area and a pavilion. Handicap accessibility includes sidewalks, bathrooms, and specialized tables and grills. The Village of Otter Lake generously donated shore space so we were able to construct a custom built, wheelchair accessible fishing platform and boat dock for our pontoon.
Reservations are Required. Mandatory steps to reserve the boat:
2014 Grant Award from The Filippis Foundation
We would like to acknowledge and gratefully thank The Filippis Foundation for awarding Barrier Free Boating a $2,500.00 grant on June 12, 2014. The grant was used to purchase a pontoon boat trailer. This will allow us to take our boat to other area lakes and provide our service at various events hosted by organizations dedicated to the disabled.
Barrier Free Boating can always use more volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a boat pilot, helping at events or have computer skills, please contact us. We would look forward to talking to you.


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(visited by Joseph Kerski)
12-Apr-2014 -- As I was in the south Florida region for the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), an event that attracted 7,000 geographers, and as I had visited a confluence point for nearly every AAG conference since 2003, including a wonderful desert hike in Nevada, a frantic bicycle trip to an apartment complex outside Washington DC, a drive into the woods northeast of Seattle, to a lonely embankment near a ship canal in New Orleans, and to points in many other locations, it was high on my priority all week to somehow visit a confluence while this year's annual meeting took place in Tampa, Florida. I did not have any illusions about breaking away during the conference, as I was quite busy teaching workshops, giving presentations, working in the Esri exhibit, participating in meetings, and learning so much from wonderful long-time colleagues and making new friends from around the world. I knew the only opportunity was to be on the day I left the state.
And so, on the day I was to leave the state, I departed the hotel at 6:00am in a taxi, then rented a car at the Tampa airport, drove to the south and east, and by 9:00am, had visited 27 North 82 West. My flight departing Florida was not scheduled until late afternoon, so not only did I now immediately set sights on 28 North 82 West, but I had time to take a hike in the Florida countryside. I left Port Charlotte, site of 27 North 82 West, driving north on the Kings Highway, 769, to Highway 72. Here, I drove east nearly to Arcadia. As I had not visited Florida in at least 8 years, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the enormous birds nests at the top of some of the power poles and the fields and houses. I drove north on Highway 661 and stopped, spending 90 minutes walking around one of the lakes at Hardee Lakes County Park. It was not too hot, just a little humid, and the lake, vegetation, and birds were beautiful. Most people there were fishing. Departing the park, I then took Highway 37 north into Lakeland, where the greenery was replaced by urban land use. I stopped at the one and only Panera Drive-thru I have ever seen, and proceeded from there to the north, to cross underneath Polk Highway 570, and turn left.
Anticipation building, I was now heading west on the frontage road. This was a one way frontage road, so the most challenging part about this confluence would be to decide which one of the driveways to pull off into, to avoid having to circle back to this point and try again. I also had to take care that nobody was following me and becoming impatient; with me driving slowly so as not to miss the 82nd Meridian. I wanted to find a pull off before the 82nd Meridian appeared. The buildings to the north cleared away and I found myself looking at the fence and the vacant lot beyond that I had studied in previous visitors' narratives. I located a wide spot in the road about 50 meters east of the 82nd Meridian, carefully parked, and checked for oncoming vehicles before stepping out. Gathering supplies, I walked to the 82nd Meridian and took photographs and videos, one video of the confluence, and another one of my walk along the frontage road. The fence was high and clearly meant business, and as I was only 5 meters from the spot, there was no reason to try to find a way around the fence. I contented myself with standing on 82 West. It was just before noon: The temperature stood at 75 F under bright cheery skies, in mid-April, the kind of weather that has in part brought so many people to Lakeland and other communities in Florida. I saw no animals or birds, and certainly no people, as this landscape is ruled entirely by vehicles. Still, it was good to see a little patch of wilderness in the vacant lot where the confluence lay.
This was only my second visit to 82 West; my only other one being one degree south of here, this very morning. I had stood on 28 North three times previously, all in south Texas, far to the west of here. After taking one last look around, I departed the site, driving west to Interstate Highway 4. Still having some time before my flight, I did about 90 minutes of work at the Brandon Public Library, a very nice city library, and then drove to the Tampa International Airport. These two confluence visits were a perfect way to cap a geographic week, and I was able to practice what I preach, namely, to "get out into the field!".
Respectfully submitted, Joseph Kerski


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Who doesn't love a good grilled cheese sandwich? A grilled cheese sandwich is supposed to be a childhood favorite, but I'm pretty sure I'll be enjoying it well into old age. Of course, if I eat nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches, I probably won't live to see old age, but I can still enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich now and then, especially if I swap out some of the cheese for veggies, and if I swap out the white bread for whole grain bread like Oroweat® Whole Grain Sliced Bread. Oroweat® is my favorite sandwich bread brand because it's sturdy enough to pack a lot of sandwich filling in between, and it's so delicious my family will eat it on its own!
Here are 3 ways to jazz up an ordinary grilled cheese sandwich. Just take 2 slices of Oroweat® Whole Grain Sliced Bread, pile in the fillings listed below, and press in a panini maker. Actually, you don't even have to grill these sandwiches; they taste wonderful even when cold!
- Brie
- Tomatoes
- Baby spinach leaves
- Pesto
- Mayo
- Aged cheddar
- Balsamic-glazed red onions
- Sundried tomatoes
- Mixed greens
- Honey mustard
- Mayo
- Mozarella
- Tomatoes
- Basil leaves
- Fig balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil
What are your favorite ways to jazz up a cheese sandwich -- or any sandwich, for that matter? Oroweat® wants to know! Share your favorite sandwich recipe by August 21, 2016 to win up to $25k in their "2016 America's Better Sandwich" Contest.
About the 2016 America's Better Sandwich Contest
Oroweat® Bread wants to hear what healthful ingredients their fans use to make the perfect sandwich with their delicious, made with whole grain bread, so Oroweat® Bread is hosting the"2016 America's Better Sandwich" Contest! To enter, fans can submit their recipes at https://www.oroweat.com/americas-better-sandwich for the opportunity to win a grand prize of $25,000 – now, that's a lot of dough! Additionally, the sandwich in each of the five categories with the highest overall score will receive a $5,000 Category Prize.Making sure no grain gets left behind, this year, Oroweat® Bread will donate one (1) loaf of bread to Feeding America for each entry and or vote submitted, with a minimum of 75,000 and up to 100,000 loaves donated!
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One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will receive an Oroweat® prize pack which includes:- Six coupons, each valid for $5.00 off the purchase of any Oroweat® Whole Grain Sliced Bread of choice
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Disclosure: I received product coupons and a gift card from Oroweat to help me create this post. Contest information (in italics) is provided by Oroweat. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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The Highline Historical Society and Humanities Washington will be presenting a conversation with Harriet Baskas, a member of the 2012-14 Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau on Sunday, Feb. 24.
This free event takes place starting at 2 p.m. at Highline School District ERAC (administration building), located at 15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW in Burien.
Space restrictions allow most museums to display only about 10 percent of their holdings. However, there are also surprising political, philosophical, artistic, environmental and historic reasons why museums keep objects from view.
Baskas will present a fast-paced, photo-filled and, at times, somewhat offbeat tour of Washington history through the stories of museum artifacts that are rarely – or never – shown to the public. Examples include Bing Crosby's toupees in Spokane, a quilt made of Ku Klux Klan robes in Yakima and Native American spirit boards in Tacoma. We will explore how these objects came to be in the local collections and who makes decisions about what is displayed or kept from view.
Harriet Baskas writes about airports, museums and a wide variety of other topics for msnbc.com, USATODAY.com, AAA Journey and other outlets. She also maintains two blogs: StuckatTheAirport.com and MuseumMysteries.com. She produced a major radio series on hidden museum artifacts that aired on National Public Radio, with Smithsonian-based historians as her advisers. Baskas has a master's in communication from the University of Washington and served as general manager for three community radio stations in Oregon and Washington. Baskas is the author of a half dozen books, including Washington Curiosities, Washington Icons and Oregon Curiosities, and is finishing a book about hidden treasures in museums. Baskas lives in Seattle.
Here are the details:
WHAT: Hidden Treasures in Washington's Museums, with Harriet Baskas
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 24, 2 p.m.
WHERE: Highline ERAC, 15675 Ambaum Boulevard SW, Burien
INFO: www.highlinehistory.org or www.humanities.org/calendar-events

CONTACT: Cyndi Upthegrove, 206-246-6354, [email protected]
About Humanities Washington

Humanities Washington sparks conversation and critical thinking using story as a catalyst, nurturing thoughtful and engaged communities across our state. For more about Humanities Washington, visit www.humanities.org/calendar-events

About the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau
Speakers Bureau is one Humanities Washington's oldest and most popular programs. A roster of 28 cultural experts and scholars provides low-cost, high-quality public presentations across the state, encouraging audiences to think, learn and engage in conversation. These diverse and engaging speakers cover a variety of topics, including popular culture, photography, architecture, literature, food, film and history. Best of all – these presentations are free and open to the public. For more about Speakers Bureau, visit www.humanities.org/programs/speakers.
About Highline Historical Society
Our mission is to collect, preserve, and tell the stories of the Highline region and its people.]]>


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Have Bullish Sentiment Extremes Caught Up with Stocks?
Memo to equity bulls: 2014 is not 2013. And thus far, it's been a bumpy road for stocks.
The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) broke below 1,800 for the first time this year. Have bullish sentiment extremes finally caught up with the stock market?
AUDIO: Why Market Sentiment Matters and How to Use It
Via our Technical Forecast issued on Jan. 5, we alerted readers:
"We always adhere to price first and foremost in our trading and until price proves to us the market's trend has changed, we will not assume it has. 1,821 is the first S&P 500 (^GSPC) price level that will show us a trend change. Previous resistance now turned support at 1,815 is the next support level. Then comes the all important intermediate term trendline that has been in place since 2012, now up to the XXXX (for subscribers) level. If these levels fail as support, then it will be more likely the market is rolling over in a major market top, helping to identify the next likely 20%+ pullback."
Among the various indicators that flashed an early warning sign, were extremes in the put/call ratio. Shown above is a put/call ratio chart that appeared three weeks ago in our Technical Forecast to readers. We said, "Whenever options buyers purchased an inordinate amount of calls, driving this ratio down to below .80, it often marked a market top."
The ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter outlines key support/resistance levels in the S&P 500 along with ETFs linked to other major asset classes like gold (NYSEARCA:GLD), bonds (NYSEARCA:TLT), and real estate (NYSEARCA:VNQ). In 2013, 70% of our weekly ETF picks were winners.
Follow us on Twittter @ ETFguide


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Posted September 11, 2012 at 2:01 am
This is as good a time as any to mention that Amber and Mike (and Leslie) have met Joyce and Walky and Joe and Danny and the rest. �They met them at Joyce and Walky's wedding, which you can read by purchasing the J&W! members-only pages in the store.
The J&W! wedding happened nearly three years ago, but I'm still trying to finish drawing it, so the last page remains a work in progress. �But I've drawn... twenty pages in the past few weeks, in a mad scramble? �So it's very close to completion. �I'm just wrapping stuff up now.
And, yeah, that means that, coupled with Shortpacked!'s current storyline, I've been drawing two weddings at once, both consisting of the entirety of my living cast of characters. �Oof.
Tags: agatha, amber, gustavo, mike, ninja rick, robin desanto, rose, ultra car, zaph, stacy, malaya, george, harriet


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Fitchburg, Mass., June 23, 2014"In extending technological leadership within the remote sensing market, Headwall announced availability of its new Nano-Hyperspec sensor for commercial UAV deployment. The low-cost hyperspectral sensor operates in the VNIR (400-1000nm) spectral range and includes onboard data processing and storage to minimize size, weight, and power constraints inherent with small, hand-launched UAVs.
The Nano-Hyperspec sensor can be combined with optional GPS/IMU capabilities to provide an airborne configuration that is small, light, and fully integrated. The total sensor package with data processor and storage weighs approximately 1.5 lb. (0.6 kg) and measures a scant 3 inch x 3 inch x 4.7 inch (76.2mm x 76.2mm x 119.4mm).
The VNIR sensor features 640 spatial bands and 270 spectral bands at a resolution of 2-3 nm. The frame rate of the Nano-Hyperspec is over 300 frames per second; usable data storage capacity is 480GB.
Nano-Hyperspec is available in two options:
- OEM-programmable sensor configuration
- High-performance sensor configuration for end-users
"We designed Nano-Hyperspec to complement our performance-leading Hyperspec line of sensors and the growing market for small, low-cost, hand-launched UAVs," explained Headwall CEO David Bannon. "The real innovation is the integration of the Nano-Hyperspec optical sensor and data processing module," he noted. The optional GPS/IMU provides pinpoint correlation between actual terrain coordinates and hyperspectral data for a completely orthorectified hyperspectral data set. This functionality is just one of the many capabilities of Headwall's Hyperspec III software.
"In comparison, our Micro-Hyperspec sensor has been an industry-leading airborne sensor for many years," noted Bannon. "But Nano-Hyperspec addresses the rapid adoption of very small, hand-launched commercial UAVs where more integration within an even smaller, lighter package is needed," he noted. Headwall worked collaboratively with customers and UAV makers to achieve the Nano-Hyperspec design. Precision agriculture and environmental monitoring are two facets of the 'remote sensing' market addressed by the Nano-Hyperspec instrument.
Headwall's hyperspectral sensors are all based on a patented, concentric, aberration-corrected design using precision high-performance gratings. This fundamentally simple yet elegant design is very robust and features no moving parts and no transmissive optics such as prisms that contribute to measurement inaccuracy and stray light. Headwall's sensor design provides high signal-to-noise and outstanding spatial and spectral resolution across the entire spectral range and field of view.. The very wide field-of-view of Nano-Hyperspec is crucial for airborne applications that demand flight-path efficiency.
Delivery of Nano-Hyperspec is approximately 4-6 weeks ARO. For a sales quotation, please email:
About Headwall Photonics
Headwall Photonics is the leading designer and manufacturer of imaging sensors and spectral instrumentation for industrial, commercial, and government markets. Headwall's high performance spectrometers, spectral engines, and high performance diffractive optics have been selected by OEM and end-user customers around the world for use in critical application environments. As a pioneer in the development of hyperspectral sensors and imaging spectrometers, Headwall enjoys a market leadership position through the design and manufacture of patented spectral instrumentation that is customized for application-specific performance.


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Antarctica has been in the news quite a lot recently. We have just passed the 100th anniversary of Amundsen's and Scott's attainment of the south pole. Al Gore recently traveled to the continent as part of his Climate Reality Project. And, most interestingly, Russian scientists finally pierced the 3.8-km-thick ice shield to penetrate the surface of Lake Vostok. The project hopes to identify an ecosystem in a lake that has been isolated from the remainder of the planet by the Antarctic ice for some 15 million years.
There are any number of ideas floating around amidst the excitement, mostly centering on the potential for information obtained from Lake Vostok to inform us about patterns of evolution on our own planet and to provide further insight into the possibility that life could evolve on planets or moons having similar conditions. The Jovian moon Europa, for instance, has an icy crust with a liquid ocean underneath that some astrobiologists have speculated could support life.
Work in Antarctica is highly seasonal, and with the current season now coming to an end, actual collection of water and sediment samples (perhaps using an underwater robot) will not be performed until the Antarctic summer of 2012 – 13. The Russian research is also likely to be complemented by projects planned for that season by British and American scientists. The British Antarctic Survey plans to cut through the icecap into Lake Ellsworth while the Americans plan to investigate Lake Whillans.
There is undoubtedly an element of competition among the Russian, British, and American teams that is perhaps reminiscent of the "race for the south pole" between the Norwegian and British teams led by Amundsen and Scott a century ago. But at the same time, Antarctica is a place where it is easier to set aside national chauvinism in favor of an idealized cooperative approach to science undertaken by a singular humanity. It is within this context that I want to discuss a question that has a superficially simple answer.
Who owns Lake Vostok?
The easy answer of "no one" is perhaps the answer most commonly given because no national territorial claims are enforced in Antarctica. But a fuller answer is more complex. While it is true that no national territorial claims are enforced, that does not mean such claims do not exist. Indeed, during the early part of the twentieth century, seven nations asserted territorial claims, some of which overlap: Chile, Argentina, France, Norway, Great Britain, New Zealand, and Australia. Those claims still exist but have been "frozen" in accordance with a series of agreements that are collectively known as the "Antarctic Treaty System" (who says treaty makers do not have a sense of humor?).
The initial Antarctic Treaty went into effect in June, 1961 and included the United States and the Soviet Union in addition to the seven claimant nations, as well as Belgium, Japan, and South Africa. While not claimant nations, the United States and the Soviet Union were given special status in Article IV of the treaty as reserving the right to make territorial claims in the future; nations that have subsequently ratified the treaty have agreed not to advance any claims of their own.
All of this continues to be relevant because Antarctica has importance that goes beyond its scientific value. Fifty percent larger than all of Europe, Antarctica is believed to contain vast stores of mineral resources and — importantly — oil. The original Antarctic Treaty said nothing about how to treat discoveries of such resources, but the Madrid Protocol, negotiated in 1991, places a 50-year moratorium on mining and oil-exploitation activities in the Antarctic. That moratorium may be lifted earlier than the 50-year term if there is agreement among certain parties to the treaty.
The original territorial claims, which date back to Britain's first claim in 1908, were based on traditional legal rationales for asserting sovereignty, including discovery, occupation, geographical proximity, and geographical affinity theories. Since those territorial claims are merely "frozen" by the Antarctic Treaty System, many of the activities that take place in the Antarctic need to be viewed with a somewhat jaundiced eye. There is no doubt that the scientific research that takes place is valid and important, but much of the national support of that research is funded with a greater objective of continuing to consolidate territorial claims.
Consider, for example, Emilio Marcos Palma, the first human being born on the continent of Antarctica. An Argentine national, Palma's birth was coordinated through the efforts of the Argentinean government as a form of colonization of the territory it claims. He was born January 7, 1978, and eight years later, the Chilean government followed suit, arranging for the birth of Juan Pablo Camacho in Antarctica. Both men were born in a part of the continent that is simultaneously claimed by each of Argentina, Chile, and Great Britain. When I visited Antarctica last month, one of the residents of the British base at Port Lockroy explained to me, with characteristically wry British wit, "The Chilean and Argentinean governments each sent down a pregnant woman to have a baby. But we Brits … we opened a post office!" And indeed, the British do operate a post office out of Port Lockroy in that area. Their greater motivation is almost certainly part of a plan to solidify their "frozen" territorial claim than out of a genuine need to provide postal services — which are almost entirely used by tourists to send postcards to friends and family.
Consider also that the United States operates a base at the South Pole (that also provides a post office), simultaneously straddling the territories of six of the seven claimant nations. It also operates McMurdo Base between the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf; that base is a veritable small town, having a population of about 1000 in the summer months. There is no doubt that a consideration in operating these bases is to establish a pattern of colonization that may serve for a future territorial claim by the United States in accordance with its reserved right under the Antarctic Treaty.
The presence of Russian bases in Antarctica is surely no different, and this fact has not escaped the attention of Australia. Lake Vostok lies within the territory to which Australia has frozen claims, an area that encompasses about 42% of the Antarctic continent and that is almost the size of the Australian continent itself. (How Australian does "Vostok" really sound, eh, mate?) About six months ago, the Lowy Institute, a private Australian think tank, raised concerns about Australia's ability to preserve its territorial claim, and suggested examining the possibility of involving military personnel in its Antarctic activities. A copy of the paper can be read here. The suggestion of involving the Australian military is delicate because of limitations imposed by the Antarctic Treaty (naval activity on the high seas is generally permissible but military activity on land or ice shelves is prohibited).
The Antarctic is one of few truly pristine parts of the planet remaining, and it encompasses a satisfyingly large part of the world. Many idealistically wish that it will always remain so, and the romantic notion that it might has so far been possible because of its extreme inhospitality to human beings. Lake Vostok, for instance, is near the southern "Pole of Cold," which boasts the lowest temperatures on the planet, having once recorded a temperature as low as –89.2ºC (–128.6ºF). But it is unrealistic to believe it will always remain so as technology continues to evolve and the resources that it houses become more potentially accessible and valuable to nations. The frozen territorial claims are like a bear in hibernation — quiet, peaceful, and slumbering — but spring always eventually comes.


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libsmf (library for handling MIDI files)
LibSMF is a BSD-licensed C library for handling standard MIDI
("*.mid") files. It transparently handles conversions between time and
pulses, tempo map handling etc. Full API documentation and examples
are included.
Also included is smfsh, a "midi shell" useful for debugging and
hand-editing MIDI files.
Maintained by: B. Watson
Keywords: midi,mid,smf
ChangeLog: libsmf
Download SlackBuild:
libsmf.tar.gz.asc (FAQ)
(the SlackBuild does not include the source)
Individual Files: |
libsmf.SlackBuild |
libsmf.info |
slack-desc |
© 2006-2024 SlackBuilds.org Project. All rights reserved.
Slackware® is a registered trademark of
Patrick Volkerding
Linux® is a registered trademark of
Linus Torvalds


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Habits of the High Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age
A review of Quentin Schultze's, "Habits of the High Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age," by Dr. Douglas Groothuis.
Schultze, Quentin Habits of the High Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2002
The important book contributes what is nearly always lacking in discussions of cyberspace technologies: (1) a strong sense of moral order as it impinges on our informational habits, (2) the cruciality of character and community for all our communicative endeavors, (3) the need to critically assess the nature and effects of new technologies instead of merely ratifying their innovations and their potential to "change everything" (supposedly for the better), (4) the theological imperatives regarding our souls, beliefs, and behaviors. Let us hope that this book will open up the moral, philosophical, and theological discourse so sorely needed in our understanding of cyberspace technologies. Schultze's effort is a kind of academic jeremiad, a lament that we have become (in the words of Thoreau's book Walden-not cited by Schultze) "tools of our tools." To my knowledge, there is no other book that calls the cyber-world to account before the higher realities of God, the moral law, and the imperatives of virtue-outside of my own book, The Soul in Cyberspace (Baker, 1997; Wipf and Stock reprint, 1999).
Habits of the High-Tech Heart is not another "how to" book or a digitopian oracle. It is, rather, a sober and sobering assessment of the downside of computer-mediated communication. As such, it is a needed tonic to the mindless and irreligious hype that so often accompanies the topic. For that matter, it is also an antidote for the uncritical Christian hyping of the Internet as ushering in the next great wave of evangelism and so on. I hope Schultze's book stirs other Christian thinkers to think deeply and act wisely on this vital topic. With the exception of Jacques Ellul, to date, the most cogent critiques of cyber-culture have come from non-Christian thinkers (many of whom Schultze cites) such as Neil Postman, Lewis Mumford, Swen Birkerts, Theodore Rozsak, Clifford Stoll, and others.
Schultze also draws heavily from Alexis Tocqueville's insights-both sociological and ethical-and to very good effect. Schultze drinks deeply from Augustine and Kierkegaard. From them (and from other notable modern Christian writers such as Eugene Peterson and Ellul) he finds a significant point of reference-something far above and behind the hypertrophied propaganda that pervades literature about cyberspace. Theological critiques of culture must draw on both theological and sociological sources. The "Audience of One" (Kierkegaard) must be brought to bear on the pressing matters of our day. We must, at once, exegete the Bible, our culture, and our own souls (in light of Scripture and culture). Schultze's book is medicine for the soul in this regard. Although his Christian commitment is firmly in place, he crafts his prose in such a way as to draw in those who might not share his perspective. Bravo! This is wise, and ought to be more common among Christian critiques of culture. We evangelicals need a saner, wiser, and more resonant cultural voice.
Although Schultze seems less taken with media-critic Marshall McLuhan than I am, he realizes that the medium carries with it in-built potentials for good and evil. I put it this way: no communications medium is intrinsically good, intrinsically evil-or morally neutral. Each medium has its own unique set of potentials for good and evil. As Neil Postman sees it, each medium becomes a "metaphor" for culture. Or, as McLuhan put it, "we become what we behold." If we value computers for their speed and efficiency, we begin to value speed and efficiency above all else. Other values-moral values-are either marginalized or forgotten. As Schultze points out, this is why Bill Gates says that religion is "inefficient." He should be doing something more productive on Sunday morning that wasting time on religion.
We should remember that every medium must be culturally exegeted as to its biases, limits, and potentials. Given the well-documented American tradition of uncritical boosterism regarding technologies, the darker side of these technologies have not been adequately analyzed. But the Apostle John calls us to avoid worldliness and to embrace godliness (1 John 2:15-17), as does the Apostle Paul (Romans 12:1-2). Any Christian's unreflective use of cyberspace invites worldliness, which undermines character, witness, and community.
The word "community" is everywhere used and typically abused. It becomes a nearly meaningless term, such as "awesome" has in recent years. Not every assemblage of people with some "connection" is a "community," as Schultze highlights in his chapter, "Nurturing Virtue in Community." The term ought to be reserved for those who are bound to each other and bound to something beyond themselves in a personal manner. True community is not possible on-line, although users of computers may trade data. On-line communication is more personal and responsible when one has already established a relationship with someone off-line.
Along these lines, I routinely require my students to engage in some kind of "media fast," in which they abstain from an electronic medium for at least one week. During this time they are required to reflection several portions of Scripture-the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the fruit of the Spirit, etc.-in light of their experiences. In the six or so years I have been assigning this fast, the results have been nothing less than profound for the vast majority of the students. Having withdrawn from the world of TV, radio, computers, they find more silence, time for reflection and prayer, and more opportunities to engage family and friends thoughtfully. They become more peaceful and contemplative-and begin to notice how media-saturated most of our culture has become. So, we need some asceticism. Any area of culture that decreases godliness and enhances worldliness must come under the loving discipline of Jesus Christ-for his glory, for our good, and for the good of those we serve. Christians need to withdraw from aspects of our technological culture (which Postman calls a "Technopoly"-a culture dominated by technology) in order to gain perspective on ourselves, God, and our culture.
Schultze is right to claim that we "detechnologize our religious traditions" (196-199). Every technology should pass through a "truth filter" to determine its use in the church. For example, I recently gave a message on Christ and culture to a group of about 80 ministers and spouses. The jumbotron (large video screen) was used during worship and to project the image of the man who introduced me. I requested that it be turned off during my lecture, because I wanted to engage people face-to-face. The video screen-although so common in so many aspects of contemporary culture-did not belong in this setting. I later found that this request offended several people on staff with the hosting church. I tried to seek reconciliation, but to no avail.
Another example is when church-goers leaves their Bible's at home because everything they need will be projected on a PowerPoint presentation. Is this a good "habit of the heart"? How is this technology undermining our respect for the Word? Many churches never even ask these kinds of questions. But they must ask them if they read and reflect on Habits of the High-Tech Heart.
Here is one last example of how technologies can work against us. Another professor and I administered a doctrinal oral exam to one of our Master of Divinity students. He did poorly when asked to relate the larger narrative of Scripture to doctrine. We later found that his method of study was primarily to use a computer program that printed out acres of isolated Bible verses on various topics. By studying these verses, he collected Bible "factoids" (as it were), but lacked a deeper, wider, better sense of God's providential revelation as recounted in Scripture.
Unless Americans take seriously the biases, limits, and meaning of computer technologies (what they can do well, what they cannot do well), "communal systems of moral meaning" will decline just as the technologies "advance." Biblical notions of truth, virtue, character, and community cannot be sustained entirely in cyberspace. As Schulze writes, we need to speak with one another, worship with one another, and remember the importance of geography and history! Without these "habits of the heart," our data may increase, but our souls will shrivel.
Douglas Groothuis
Professor of Philosophy
Denver Seminary


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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Federal health officials say they expect to approve Florida's request to move Medicaid patients into private managed care programs if the state resolves several issues to ensure they will be run with transparency and accountability.
The state has been negotiating with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for nearly two years. The Associated Press first reported the agreement Wednesday.
The state wants to shift roughly 3 million Medicaid patients into managed care plans that allow for-profit providers to determine their care. The goal of the sweeping bills passed in 2011 was to save the state money on the $21 billion a year program while improving services.
Federal health officials want the state to meet regularly with insurers and patients and have an independent entity monitoring the program.


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By Ahmed Aboulenein
BAGHDAD, June 12 (Reuters) – Nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iranian-backed militia chief Hadi al-Amiri, who won first and second place respectively in Iraq's May parliamentary election, announced on Tuesday an alliance between their political blocs.
The move announced from the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf is the first serious step towards forming a new government after weeks of negotiations between parties. It comes exactly one month after an election marred by historically low turnout and fraud allegations.
The two Shi'ite figures said they would keep the door open for other winning blocs to join them in forming a new government.
"Our meeting was a very positive one, we met to end the suffering of this nation and of the people. Our new alliance is a nationalist one," Sadr said.
Sadr and Amiri are strange bedfellows.
The cleric, who once led violent campaigns against the U.S. occupation that ended in 2011, has emerged as a nationalist opponent of powerful Shi'ite parties allied with neighbouring Iran and as a champion of the poor.
He backed in the election the Saeroon list composed of his followers, the Communist Party, and other secular candidates.
Amiri, a fluent Farsi speaker, is Iran's closest ally in Iraq, having spent two years in exile there during the era of Saddam Hussein.
The Fatih alliance he led in the election was composed of political groups tied to Iran-backed Shi'ite militias who helped government forces dislodge Islamic State militants from the third of Iraq they seized four years ago.
"Fatih and Saeroon announce forming the nucleus of the largest bloc and call on all winning blocs to participate in this alliance under a government programme agreed upon by all that is suitable to face the challenges, crises, and problems facing Iraq," a Fatih spokesman said in a statement.
The alliance, which together has 101 seats, 64 short of the majority needed to form a government, came hours after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who's own bloc came third, urged politicians to keep negotiating over government formation despite an impending nationwide manual recount of votes.
Parliament mandated the recount after Abadi said a government report showed there were serious violations.
A few days later a storage site housing half of Baghdad's ballot boxes caught fire, raising tensions and prompting some to call for the election to be repeated.
Abadi said on Tuesday he opposed a repeat, echoing the stances of Sadr and Amiri, and warned that anyone who tried to sabotage the political process would be punished.
He may yet secure a second term as a compromise candidate if he joins his blocs with Sadr and Amiri and manages to win their backing.
"The matter is exclusively in the hands of the judiciary, not politicians. The government and parliament don't have the power to cancel the election," Abadi said of a repeat.
The government report had recommended a recount of 5 percent of votes but the outgoing parliament, in which over half of lawmakers including the speaker lost their seats, instead voted for a nationwide one.
Amiri said on Tuesday he supported only a partial recount.
Abadi called the fire a deliberate act and said the attorney general would bring charges against those who are trying to undermine the political process.
An Iraqi court ordered the arrest of four people accused of setting fire to the storage site. Three of them were policemen and one an employee of the elections commission.
Abadi said a preliminary report had provided evidence of gasoline at multiple areas inside the storage site. It also showed that security cameras had been disabled and no locks had been broken, implying it was carried out by someone with access to the storage site.
Iraqi authorities said the ballot boxes had been rescued but the fire has fuelled fears of violence.
Sadr has warned that certain parties are trying to drag Iraq into a civil war, adding that he would not participate in one.
Abadi thanked Sadr for a disarmament initiative he floated after a weapons cache at his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City exploded, killing 18 people, and said he hoped the cleric would stick to it.
"I welcome Sayed Moqtada's announcement that his followers commit to not having weapons outside the framework of the state. We consider this good," he said, adding that those responsible for the explosion would be brought to justice.
"What happened in Sadr City is very regrettable, it is a crime. Those responsible will receive their just punishment."
Sadr, who ordered his own separate investigation into the incident, said on Tuesday he had identified the culprit who was now on the run and that he would be brought to justice.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; additional reporting by Huda Majeed Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)


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Pinker's understanding of how intelligence is linked to peace owes a lot to Peter Singer's theory of how the "escalator of reason" leads to an "expanding circle" of moral concern that eventually embraces all sentient beings. It's not surprising, therefore, that Singer's review of Pinker's book in the New York Times Book Review endorses Pinker's argument. But Singer fails to see that his support for the "Darwinian left" is subverted by Pinker's argument for Darwinian classical liberalism.
As I have indicated in a previous post, Pinker is not as emphatic as is James Payne (The History of Force) in linking declining violence to classical liberalism. Even so, Pinker indicates repeatedly in his book that classical liberalism is the only moral and political theory that recognizes the links between declining violence, individual liberty, and scientific rationalism as promoting human progress.
For example, Pinker recognizes that the classical liberals see that "the world has far too much morality," because the most destructive forms of violence often arise from using violence to enforce some dominant group's conception of morality (622-23). Adopting the moral psychology of Jonathan Haidt and Alan Fiske, Pinker sees an evolution in human history through four models of morality--communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, and market pricing/rational-legal. The dramatic declines in violence over the last few centuries have depended on the move towards market pricing/rational-legal models of morality, and this is the move made by classical liberals. Pinker writes:
"Why might a disinvestment of moral resources from community, sanctity, and authority militate against violence? One reason is that communality can legitimize tribalism and jingoism, and authority can legitimize government repression. But a more general reason is that retrenchment of the moral sense to smaller territories leaves fewer transgressions for which people may legitimately be punished. There is a bedrock of morality based on autonomy and fairness on which everyone, traditional and modern, liberal and conservative, agrees. No one objects to the use of government violence to put assailants, rapists, and murderers behind bars. But defenders of traditional morality wish to heap many nonviolent infractions on top of this consensual layer, such as homosexuality, licentiousness, blasphemy, heresy, indecency, and desecration of sacred symbols. For their moral disapproval to have teeth, traditionalists must get the Leviathan to punish those offenders as well. Expunging these offenses from the law books gives the authorities fewer grounds for clubbing, cuffing, paddling, jailing, or executing people."
"The momentum of social norms in the direction of Market Pricing gives many people the willies, but it would, for better or worse, extrapolate the trend toward nonviolence. Radical libertarians, who love the Market Pricing model, would decriminalize prostitution, drug possession, and gambling, and thereby empty the world's prisons of millions of people currently kept there by force (to say nothing of sending pimps and drug lords the way of Prohibition gangsters). The progression toward personal freedom raises the question of whether it is morally desirable to trade a measure of socially sanctioned violence for a measure of behavior that many people deem intrinsically wrong, such as blasphemy, homosexuality, drug use, and prostitution. But that's just the point: right or wrong, retracting the moral sense from its traditional spheres of community, authority, and purity entails a reduction of violence. And that retraction is precisely the agenda of classical liberalism: a freedom of individuals from tribal and authoritarian force, and a tolerance of personal choices as long as they do not infringe on the autonomy and well-being of others." (636-37)I do have one objection to this. The way Pinker expresses his point here about the "retrenchment of the moral sense" in classical liberalism might be interpreted to suggest that classical liberals must deny the moral longings for "community, authority, and purity." But, in fact, classical liberals allow the expression of these moral longings, as long as they are channelled into the voluntary associations of civil society without any enforcement by violent coercion. So, for example, some believers in biblical religion might want to condemn blasphemers, heretics, and homosexuals as immoral, and classical liberals would allow them to express that condemnation within their religious groups, as long as they do not enforce that condemnation through violence.
And, indeed, over the last few centuries there has been a remarkable decline in such moralistic violence. Blasphemy, heresy, and homosexuality were once capital crimes. But now, in many parts of the world, most people abhor the idea of executing blasphemers, heretics, and homosexuals. For example, in recent years, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have officially apologized and asked foregiveness for the sins of the Catholic Church in sanctioning religious violence. There is no precedent for this in the entire history of the Church. We see here a fundamental change in human cultural history.
How do we explain this change? Pinker's answer is that we are becoming smarter, and a smarter world is a less violent world. Or to be more precise, the smarter we become, the more inclined we are to a classical liberalism that teaches that violence is never justified except to prevent greater violence.
Pinker explains this as a "moral Flynn effect." The "Flynn effect" is named after political scientist James Flynn who is famous for pointing out that average IQ scores have been increasing dramatically over the past century. By today's standard, a typical person of 1910 would have an IQ score that would today be at the border of mental retardation! These increases in IQ scores have come primarily in the subtests that measure abstract thinking, as in the testing of reasoning about similarities, analogies, and visual matrices.
Flynn has argued that this increase in intelligence comes from the influence of modern science, so that now more and more people have been educated to think about the world through the abstract categories and formulas of science. Consequently, we see increases in "the ability to detach oneself from parochial knowledge of one's own little world and explore the implications of postulates in purely hypothetical worlds" (654).
Here is where Pinker sees the emergence of a moral Flynn effect: "enhanced powers of reason--specifically, the ability to set aside immediate experience, detach oneself from a parochial vantage point, and frame one's ideas in abstract, universal terms--would lead to better moral commitments, including an avoidance of violence" (656). "The cognitive skill that is most enhanced in the Flynn Effect, abstraction from the concrete particulars of immediate experience, is precisely the skill that must be exercised to take the perspectives of others and expand the circle of moral consideration."
The importance that Pinker attaches to this point is indicated by the prominence he gave it in his short article for Nature in October, which consisted of a few excerpts from his book
If Pinker is right about this, I suggest, then we should expect that this is the cognitive skill that one sees in the proponents of classical liberalism--those like John Locke, Adam Smith, Herbert Spencer, Auberon Herbert, and Friedrich Hayek. I will elaborate this point in a future post.
Pinker's bold conclusion is that smarter people are more classically liberal. "The escalator of reason predicts only that intelligence should be correlated with classical liberalism, which values the autonomy and well-being of individuals over the constraints of tribe, authority, and tradition. Intelligence is expected to correlate with classical liberalism because classical liberalism is itself a consequence of the interchangeability of perspectives that is inherent to reason itself" (662). Moreover, Pinker explains that this kind of moral intelligence is more closely linked to classical liberalism, which promotes individual liberty in all spheres of life, than to "left-liberalism," which favors using governmental violence to restrain economic liberty.
Pinker presents various kinds of empirical evidence for this link in historical evolution between intelligence and classical liberalism. The psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa has shown that high IQ is correlated with political liberalism, and Pinker sees some evidence here that intelligence is more strongly linked to classical liberalism than to left-liberalism. Kanazawa found that among a sample of young American adolescents and adults, those with high IQ were more likely to identify themselves as liberal. He also found that the high IQ people were less likely to agree with the statement that government has the responsibility to redistribute income from the rich to the poor, perhaps by raising the taxes of the rich or giving income assistance to the poor. Pinker interprets this to mean that these high-IQ liberals were actually classical liberals or libertarians rather than left liberals.
Pinker does not tell his reader, however, that Kanazawa defines liberalism for himself as left liberalism. Nor does Pinker tell his reader that Kanazawa's data analysis was somewhat confusing on this issue. Although the high-IQ people did indeed tend to reject the idea of government using taxation to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, these same high-IQ people tended to agree that their federal income tax was too low, which Kanazawa interprets to mean that they were willing to be taxed to support welfare programs (Kanazawa 2010, 38, 49, 51-52).
Pinker also cites the work of Ian Deary and his colleagues who have shown that British children who showed high IQ in 1970 at age 10 were likely to show socially liberal attitudes in 1990 at age 30. In the article reporting this research, the authors concluded:
"In this large, longitudinal study, intelligent children became, on average, broad-minded adults. The state of mind common to the attitude scales used in this analysis is one of objective fairness to other individuals, an overturning of past prejudice that militated against fairness. Brighter 10-year-olds are, at age 30, more likely to hold to a 'philosophy emphasising reason and individualism rather than tradition,' which is how The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines enlightenment." (5)
Deary and his colleagues also found a strong correlation between IQ and voting for the Liberal Democrats in the UK (Deary et al. 2008b). Pinker sees this as "a suggestion that intelligence leads to classical rather than left-liberalism" (663). This is a dubious claim, however, because many, if not most, of the Liberal Democrats are social liberals but not economic liberals, because they support the British welfare state.
It is true, however, that many of the leaders of the British Liberal Democrats have argued for moving to a classical liberal position that combines social liberalism and economic liberalism, which would be a move back to the classical liberalism of the Liberal Party as founded in 1859, before the Liberal Party moved at the beginning of the 20th century to welfare state liberalism. This argument for reviving classical liberalism within the Liberal Democratic Party was made by the contributors to The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism (2004), which include Nick Clegg, the current leader of the party and Deputy Prime Minister. It is not clear, however, as to how many of those voting for the Liberal Democrats think they are voting for classical liberalism.
Pinker also cites the research of economist Bryan Caplan who has shown that brighter people tend to think like classical liberal economists. For example, more intelligent Americans are likely to support free markets and free trade as more advantageous for the country than governmental wage and price controls and protectionism.
Finally, Pinker cites the research of psychologist Heiner Rindermann showing that a country's level of education and cognitive ability in 1960-1972 predicted its level of democracy, rule of law, and political liberty in 1991-2003. This effect of greater intelligence brings declining violence because democratic governments that secure the rule of law and political liberty lower the level of governmental violence.
Caplan, Bryan, and Stephen Miller, "Intelligence Makes People Think Like Economists: Evidence from the General Social Survey," Intelligence 38 (2010): 636-47. Available online.
Deary, Ian J., G. David Batty, and Catharine R. Gale, "Bright Children Become Enlightened Adults," Psychological Science 19 (2008): 1-6. Available online.
Deary, Ian J., G. David Batty, and Catharine R. Gale, "Childhood Intelligence Predicts Voter Turnout, Voting Preferences, and Political Involvement in Adulthood: The 1970 British Cohort Study," Intelligence 36 (2008): 548-55. Available online.
Kanazawa, Satoshi, "Why Liberals and Atheists Are More Intelligent," Social Psychology Quarterly 73 (2010): 33-53. Available online.
Paul Marshall and David Laws, editors, The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism (Profile Books, 2004).
Pinker, Steven, "Taming the Devil within Us," Nature 478 (20 Octobr 2011): 309-11.
Rindermann, Heiner, "Relevance of Education and Intelligence for the Political Development of Nations: Democracy, Rule of Law, and Political Liberty," Intelligence 36 (2008): 306-22. Available online.


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I'm just wondering what everyone's thoughts on the best web based scripting (server side scripting) language is.
My personal opinion is that they all have their pro's and con's. I'll give you one thought on the subject though - I hate the ability to not declare variables. In ASP I always get problems when I make a variable by accident by spelling it wrong then forget to destroy it later and it causes the server to lag when it happens XXX number of times. Also I highly dislike not having different types of variables to use (the fact that they all start as objects then just hold different types of info). Argh!
Anyways, just wondering on the rest of the communities thoughs on this matter.